Ruth Negga is Clare Bellew in Rebecca Hall’s drama as an African-American woman who is light-skinned enough to be ‘passed’ as Caucasian.
The title refers to the practice of when African-Americans with no visible African ancestry assimilate into the Caucasian race to avoid social marginalisation and anti-black discrimination.
If she looks familiar, then you probably saw her in 2016 drama film Loving, alongside Joel Egerton. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Mildred Loving.
Who are Ruth Negga’s parents?
Ruth was born 7 January 1982 in Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to an Irish mother and an Ethiopian father.
Her mother, Norra, was a nurse and her father was a doctor. They met while working in a hospital in Ethiopia.
From her father’s side, she is Tigrayan, a group native to the Tigray region of Ethiopia and the highlands of Eritrea.
The family moved to Limerick, Ireland, after political violence broke out, but Ruth and Norra left first because her dad “didn’t get out in time”.
Tragically, her father passed away before he was able to make it to Ireland: he died in a car accident in 1988 when she was seven years old. She found out about his death through a letter and a phone call.
He is buried in his native country.
Norra never remarried, so she raised Ruth as a single mother with the help of her cousins.
Who is she dating?
Ruth lays low on social media so there hasn’t been much news on her personal life.
However, she previously dated fellow actor Dominic Cooper for six years. They starred in AMC’s Preacher from 2015-2019, and continued work together on the show despite the break up.
Blessing Iyamadiken loves the art of storytelling and enjoys creating all types of content from news to entertainment. She is also a feminist and very passionate about Gender Equality. In her spare time, she loves to read or binge on Netflix.